


trial by fire

by Belfire



Series: Adventures of the Doppelgangers [5]
Category: Batman: Arkham Knight Genesis (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: AK-Jay needs to be protected, Arkham Knight, Asexual Character, Blood Magic, Catholic Character, Crossover, Dimension Travel, F/M, Hallucinations, Joker fucking with everything, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Nightmares, Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Priest Jay!, Priest-Jay is my life, RH-Jay and priest-Jay aren't homies, Red Hood - Freeform, and everyone, doppelgangers, guns are fun, past wrongs, sequel to a sequel's sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2020-12-13 20:15:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21003530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belfire/pseuds/Belfire
Summary: Red Hood's normal day suffered an irreversible 180 when he wakes up in a mysterious, unfamiliar dimension with his doppelgangers, a madman and a priest, all with no idea how they got there and only a note left by their unseen enemy."Good morning, birdies, all in one place again for fun, fun, fun. Try not to chew each other's heads off before the game begins. I have a whole playdate planned :D"This place was going to kill them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> One day, I'll stop milking our doppelgangers, given how this concept is over a year old, but alas, this is not that day. As promised, trippelgangers.

As usual, Jason was trapped behind a thick panel of glass, helplessly watching the J-scarred version of himself interact with Roy. This monster masquerading in his skin was distinctly marked, it was blatant on the space between his eye socket and jaw, but somehow, Jason's partner wasn't realising the distinct difference that spelt them apart.

Talking so carelessly with the Arkham Knight, Roy was swimming with a shark. Jason could tell by his doppelganger's malicious grin that revealed the points of his teeth. Behind his back, he was clutching a knife, its blade glinting with a silent taunt.

Why couldn't Roy see that _wasn't_ Jason? Not the one he could trust, that is. Not the one who _wouldn't_ hurt him. The Arkham Knight was seconds from plunging that knife into blood and no matter what Jason tried, he couldn't intervene.

"That's not me! Roy, that _isn't_ me!" He banged his fist hard on the glass, he slammed it in place again and again, but the bangs didn't make it through the barrier. They couldn't hear him. He couldn't warn Roy.

And then AK raised the knife high above his head, grinning widely, like a villainous wolf, and a premature scream of 'no' made it past Jason's lips, but he didn't get to see what happened next.

The ground beneath his feet turned soft and began to swivel like a drain, it sucked him down faster than he could fight it. In a panic, he struggled against it, pulled and reached for holds that weren't there. He was powerless.

Desperate, he gasped for breath that quickly became dirt he took into his lungs, dirt and sand that was wet from rain he hadn't seen falling. It smelled like a coffin.

He didn't want to be in a coffin. Not again. Not a _third_ time.

Jason screamed and cried and thrashed but his cries were muffled by the soil rushing into his airways.

And then like always, he woke up, panting and soaked in a cold sweat. The only comfort he ever found in the small hours was Roy, sleeping beside him, there to kiss and hold. Blindly, instinctively, he groped the bed but his hand came upon something dewy, cold, and coarse. Hay-like.

To Jason's utmost confusion, the sharp blades of grass protruded from between his fingers. _What_? The grass was dark from over fertilisation and damp with early morning dew. Morning... It smelled all around, the soft wet scent, the cool crisp air, it was fresher than in the city and whatever was beneath him was too hard to be his bed. What the hell?

It was an effort to open his eyelids, he didn't even realise they were closed until now, and when they parted, his eyes were flooded with a light brighter than he was ready for. Grinding his teeth against the aching of his brain, Jason propped himself on his elbows, his entire body painful and weighted. It was a familiar weight, one he bore daily; his suit, except he didn't remember putting it on.

Then again, Jason also didn't remember how he got to this... _forest_? Yes, examining his surroundings, he could see it was a misty forest of some sort, and it was a fact that there wasn't wilderness like this anywhere near Gotham. It was all tall thick pine trees. The fuck was he? And why was... Hold on a second.

Against the weight of his limbs, Jason rose and swayed slightly, but managed to straighten, his joints cracking. He might have liked to stretch to work out the stiffness and kinks but something caught his attention.

A small distance away, strewn out on the ground, he saw something familiar and it didn't take Jason a second to recognise that suit and the person wearing it. The Arkham Knight was clad in his visored helmet, but Jason's tired brain recognised him nonetheless, aside for all the hows and whys of this confusing situation. Although, he'd thought his counterpart had quit running around under his Knight alter ego, thus destroyed the suit but whatever, not important right now. 

On his side, AK appeared to be as unconscious as Jason was thirty seconds ago, because he wasn't reacting to Jason entering his field of vision, and he usually had plenty to say about that. He might be hurt.

Get him awake and they could discuss this, figure out what was going on.

Chewing on his lip, Jason rolled his twin over onto his back. Experience lead him with ease to the locks of the helmet with the pointy ears. He unfastened them and pulled the thing from over AK's head, dishevelling his hair and revealing his face. Yep, same brand, same alignment of freckles, it was AK alright.

And as expected, he was completely out cold but upon first glance, not hurt. Good. That was one less thing for Jason to deal with. Carelessly, he tossed the big ugly helmet over his shoulder and knelt to give his twin a wake-up shake.

"Up you get, sunshine." He exhaled, already feeling the weight of whatever shit they were in for.

Stirring, AK groaned and blindly pawed at his eyes before he even opened them a crack, wincing and Jason guessed they shared a migraine. Doppelgangers, right?

"Wh... what's going on, Hood?" Sitting up slowly, the Knight gripped his head, pressing on his temples like a vice. At this point, they were in such familiar company that neither questioned the other's presence.

"Uhm..." Yet to release his lip from the pinch of his teeth, Jason sent their surrounding forest a sweeping look.

"Not sure, honestly." He confessed. His palm was flat on the space between AK's shoulder blades, rubbing in soft lines like he was up at three AM with a sick child.

"Who's dimension are we in this time? Yours or mine?" Drawing his knees in, AK lifted his face from his hands, a weary bleakness in his dispassionate eyes. Didn't he catch the part where Jason had no more of an idea what was going on than he did?

"_Neither_." Said a voice behind.

Jason filled his hand with the weapon in his holster and spun to the source of their interruption, ready to drill lead into someone's skull when he realised who he was facing. A priest. Catholic. And not just any random one at that, it was the third party to their troop of triplets, sitting cross-legged on a tree stump.

"And this isn't my dimension either." Calm, Priesty Boy linked his hands in front of himself as he explained it all in a dry voice. As usual, he had a no-nonsense expression on, rosaries attached to both arms and neck, the sole out of place thing about him was the black clerical shirt with the sleeves rolled to elbow-height and spotless ironed churchy pants, as opposed to the trademark robes. So someone finally got with the times?

And how the fuck did Jason miss him sitting there? Had he been there the whole time, just _staring_? And this is why Jason didn't trust religious freaks, they were all a bunch of creeps.

"Dominie, we have an agreement not to meet up outside confessional booths." Jason and the priest shared a look, neither eager for the other's presence. Unashamedly, Jason seized full advantage of the fact that his triplet's obligation to the church meant he was practically forced to listen to Jason ranting about his problems. 

"_Jason_,"

Jason's ears pricked at hearing his first name - well, all of theirs - come from betwixt AK's lips. The Knight had gotten off the floor, at last, standing next to him now, looking at him intently.

"There's something on your back." The Knight reached over and picked a note taped to Jason's jacket. What was this, _high-school_? 

In silence, all three of them understood that whatever was going on wasn't good, they drew in to hear AK read the note. Priesty Boy even got off that stump and glared at Jason in silence when approaching.

"Ehm, it says... '_Good morning, birdies, all in one place again for fun, fun... fun. Try not to chew each other's heads off before the game begins. I have a whole playdate planned_ :D'." AK's inky brows knit, and he mouthed a quiet _what_. His twins could double that, both equally confused with the crumpled piece of paper with the crow's feet scrawling signed off with a smiley face.

"Sounds like something Joker would write." Jason thought aloud, the drawn smile really making him point mental fingers towards the clown. And that was bad. Without any idea how the Joker could be responsible or why, it became clear this was twice as bad if Jason was right.

"_Joker_?" Priesty Boy's features screwed slightly, not quite as sure.

"You have one of her too?"

"... _Her_?" AK and Jason said in unison. The fuck was the priest smoking at mass, exactly?

And Priesty Boy looked at them as if they were the crazy ones here.

"... _Yes_. Martha Wayne, AKA _the Joker_."

Present circumstances aside, AK's and Jason's jaws dropped, eyes widening to the proportion of saucers. _Surely_ not?

"Bruce's _mom_ is your Joker?" Jason didn't believe it. Officially, whatever his Catholic companion was on, he wanted in. This was hella trippy shit.

"Bruce Wayne died over twenty years ago. Mrs Wayne suffered a mental break down and became the Joker." Priesty Boy told them that matter-of-factly, as if they should all be aware of this on the basis of common knowledge.

"Wait... You have no Bruce?" AK exchanged a confused glance with Jason, the slowness of connecting dots visible on his features. Jason was in a constant state of perplexity as to how much time the Knight actually spent being confused, but a lot of it, apparently. Poor darling.

"_No_ Bruce? _Oh my God,_ the priest's from heaven." Jason gasped like an anime girl, hand rising to cover his mouth. This was the part where his dramatic three-fourths took over, as it always inevitably did.

"_Hood_." AK elbowed him with a scowl, as if to snap _concentrate_. And he did have a point, their predicament was rather dire by all accords. Especially if clown face was somehow involved.

"We have got to figure out what's going on." Priesty Boy rubbed circles into his temples with his fingerpads, already sounding done. The movements he caused made the rosaries to rattle their wooden beads together, beads that partially covered the burn scars circling his neck and wrists. Jason still wanted the deets on those, but later.

"Let's start with the last things we remember. I was preparing a sermon."

"How riveting." Sarcastically, Jason rolled his eyes with a huff. He pushed his hands into his pockets, focusing on his favourite doppelganger, the Knight. Words he never thought he'd say.

"Where were you, sweetheart?"

AK glanced up from confusedly examining the suit he destroyed, clearly not knowing why he was wearing it but they were all clad in things they didn't remember putting on. If it was up to the priest, Jason was certain he'd never don anything that wasn't a flowing black dress.

"Uh... Grocery shopping with... with Rose."

"_Really_? You two are too fricken boring to be my identicals." The Hood huffed, cheeks blown out in disbelief.

"Then what were _you_ doing?" The priest's eyes burned into Jason, and Jason took the time to notice the red flecks in amidst the blue, framing his pupils. As long as Jason had known him, the guy had looked fucking weird.

"Making out with Roy on the headshrinker's couch at couple's counselling. And I'd be having sex with him too if it weren't for _this_." And he said it with such an air of shamelessness that not even the priest looked at him funny. Odd, priests' tongues were normally laden heavy with an ear-full about same-sex relationships and premarital anything.

"You... you go to couple's counselling now, H - Hood?" AK was blatantly trying to avoid questions about the rest of this story, no one wanted to know about what Jason got up to with his partner when the shrink left the office for two minutes.

Nonchalant, Jason rubbed the back of his neck.

"_Well_, after our last encounter, I decided to try it."

"That is all delightful," Priesty Boy cut in, curt as ever. God, just the sound of his voice made Jason wanna punch him in his pretty face. Too bad he needed the jerk for his monthly breakdowns in confession booths.

"But remember if you will, we're in a conundrum here." He gestured to their surroundings with a wide sweep of his arm, but Jason's gaze only tracked the rosary swinging to and fro from his wrist. The red and black wooden beads really captured his attention. 

"He's right, Hood." AK cut into Jason's distraction, a clear distinction between them as to perceiving the severity of their situation. To reexamine that, they were in an unknown dimension, no memory of what brought them here or why, a mysterious, threatening note with Jokerish elements, which, in summary, seemed bad, but Jason had honestly been in worse predicaments concerning doppelgangers. It took a lot to affect him and this wasn't it.

Whoever was responsible needed to try a little harder.

"Something's going on here and it's not good." The Knight went on, to which the priest agreed with a small bob of his head but Jason couldn't be less invested. These guys weren't in trouble frequently enough if they were really worried about this. 

"And I don't think we should stay out in the open. Until we figure out what's going on, we really need to lay low-" 

"AK, my love, that's all nice and a very Sladey plan, but aren't both of you overlooking something?" Interrupting, Jason snatched the note that AK was yet to relinquish hold of and held it up to Priesty Boy's face, feeling he would need the most convincing. 

"If Joker is somehow involved, we're fucked. _Royally_. I don't know anyone else who writes like this and I don't know how clown face is dimension jumping now but we gotta figure out where we are so we know whose baddie we're dealing with. We can't fight what we don't know. Laying low won't help us when whoever did this knows we're here."

Priesty Boy regarded him coolly, no waiver of emotion breaking through the carefully crafted impartiality he was made of, and Jason prepared for his usual remarks so he wasn't ready for the nod and low hum of agreement.

"You are not without your logic, Hood. Martha Wayne is incarcerated in Maximum Security, it's unlikely to be her."

"And my Joker is dead so not him." AK and the priest alike looked to Jason. Naturally, with both of their clowns ruled out, all eyes turned on his local psychopath from the circus.

"Mine can't dimension jump and he's also locked up right now. And I don't think we're in any of our dimensions." For reference, Jason gestured to the thick circling clouds overhead, the soft cotton tinted with a hue of purple. The mist surrounding them hadn't yet lifted, the forests were dense with dark spiky trees that didn't grow on Earth as far as he knew.

"Alien planet, perhaps?" Priesty Boy suggested with a tiny tilt of his head, his eye-contact with Jason remaining. The fact that he didn't dye out his white forelocks only made it pop that there was red in his irises, meaning it was unnerving to stare directly at him for long. But Jason didn't get unnerved by his reflection.

"Maybe, baby. _Maybe_." He mulled it over, nibbling on his lip when he realised they were a man down. Silently, AK had vanished from their side while they were talking but a brief scan of their surroundings revealed the armoured ex-warlord was no further than the edge of the clearing, staring up a tree. 

"... There's something hiding in the branches. It's rustling." AK quietly commented as his twins wandered over, confused as to what he was doing. And when he did tell them, it only perplexed them further as... well, the tree was empty, its leaves sparse and falling. They'd definitely be able to see if something was there, plus there was no rustling or sound to speak of. Jason, of course, wasn't alarmed, taking that he knew AK didn't always see things that were actually there but Priesty Boy was out of the loop on this one. 

He exchanged a glance with Jason and Jason in return offered a look that basically spelt 'I'll explain later'. 

"Erm, what's up there, babe?" Jason inquired when he fell into place beside the Knight, peering up at the vacant, near-barren branches that certainly didn't house any life. Sometimes it was easier to play along with these delusions than make it known that they weren't real. This might not be the place where the Knight should be questioning reality.

"An animal or something. Hang on, I'll see." It was unclear how much exactly the Arkham armour weighed, but well over fifty pounds surely, so Jason was resoundingly impressed that it didn't weigh AK down in the least, he found it a breeze to spring up the tree, gripping the lowest branches to pull himself along the trunk. 

Jason blew his cheeks out. Alrighty then. They were on an alien planet, facing an unknown adversary and AK wanted to climb trees. Why did Jason feel like he and the priest were parents here? Oh, right, 'cause their twenty-something _adult_ doppelganger was being an actual monkey.

"Darling, come down, _please_. There's nothing up there." Jason urged after some time of radio silence. God, they needed to get to work solving this debacle, they couldn't be wasting time. Roy and Rose had to be worried, not to mention whoever the priest might know back home.

"Is he mentally ill?" Troubled, Priesty Boy inquired, peering into the branches when AK was still playing the quiet card. His schizophrenia was showing.

"Oh, severely." Was the brief, brushed-off response, Jason focused harder on getting the Knight to let go of what he thought was up there.

"_AK_-" The sentence was cut short, AK finally leapt down and landed with a heavy thud, right between Jason and Priesty Boy. Neither was startled, however, it was those famed Todd nerves of steel.

"_Look_." AK's arms were closed around something small against his chest, he offered it for them to see but... the problem was there was nothing there except empty space. And he appeared to sincerely believe he was holding something.

Concerned, Jason exchanged a glance with his Catholic counterpart. 

"Erm, that's just lovely, my darling." Fuck, they were in for a shit storm, weren't they?


	2. Chapter 2

The priest and Hood were talking about their predicament, going over the hows, the whys, and Jason stood aside, focusing on them like they were the authority. He stayed mum as they tried to reach a verdict, watching their back and forth. He took note that Hood stared at Priesty Boy a lot, namely the burn scars and his eyes. Not entirely surprising, the man before them was indeed a curiosity.

His quiet refrain was unsettling, the way his face never betrayed his thoughts. For a doppelganger, a _genetic identical_, he was so different but Jason couldn't put his finger on what the defining distinction was. And it wasn't this whole priest thing. Priesty Boy took this all so well, alternate dimension, secret enemy, with a serenity that they didn't teach at seminary school. It was safe to wager he wasn't an ordinary priest.

"Alien planet, perhaps?" Priesty Boy opted to go suggest, head cocked to his left, untelling gaze burning with the flame of intelligence. Did religious folk even believe in aliens?

"Maybe, baby. _Maybe_." Hood replied, chewing on the inside of his cheek in thought. They yet proceeded to ignore Jason but that was fine, they'd probably figure a way out absent his input. They were both smart.

<strike>"**Thought you always said Hood was a dumb slut?"**</strike>

"An insult, not a fact." He kept his voice to a low murmur so his twins didn't overhear the conversation.

"... _AK_..."

Jason's attention piqued at the sound of his name spoken in ghostly whisper, carried on the gentle breeze. The priest and Hood were deep in discussion, paying no mind, it wasn't them who said it, nor was it the resident phantoms in his skull. Turning in an axis on his heel, Jason searched for the source of the small voice but say for them, the clearing was void of life.

"_Jason_..." There it was again and this time, he caught the direction from whence it came. There was a tree at the foot of the forest, a large leafy tree coloured ash grey. Its leaves were struck with russet and descending from its branches in shades of yellows and oranges, and among them, he caught a flash of colour. Deep crimson and lemon yellow, set aside from the display of hues the tree presented, and he navigated towards it.

The other two still hadn't taken any notice of what he was doing.

"_Up here._.." It sounded like a kid. Just like a kid. But that didn't make sense, there shouldn't be any children out here. Then again, _they_ shouldn't be out here.

He came to stand at the foot of the tree, staring up its trunk at the thing he could see moving. It wasn't a lot of movement, but just enough to set apart from the branches swaying in the wind. What the hell was up there?

Finally, Hood and Priesty Boy took note of him and wandered to his side, staring confusedly but they couldn't see it.

"... There's something hiding in the branches. It's rustling." Jason quietly let them know, just so they wouldn't think he was crazy, gazing into open space.

"Erm, what's up there, babe?" Hood tilted his head, an unmissable perplexion there on his features. What was he, _colour blind?_ Could he really not see it? It stood out in plainer view than before.

"An animal or something. Hang on, I'll see." Unless evidence was provided, they'd think him mad. That must be why they sought to resolve this between the two of them. His mind made, Jason jumped up, deftly catching the first handholds and scaling to the top with speed to make Catwoman green with envy. Hood called after him, something in the line of preventing his investigation but Jason ignored him.

That is, his attention span filtered out everything except the thing that had been making noise, now holding him in riveted eyes. At this point, how could Jason be surprised at what was looking back at him? A kid, as he'd thought, but not just any kid. A teeny tiny little Robin child, pressed up against the furthest branch from Jason, trembling in fear of what the big man in bulky armour might do to him. The tremors in his breaths reached Jason's ears, unmasked blue eyes big and scared.

Jason became Robin when he was fourteen, Hood was a couple of years younger than that and the priest never was Boy Wonder. This little kid was ten or eleven but smaller than he should be at this age.

"Wh - who are you?" The poor thing, he couldn't keep his stuttering under heel. He was another doppelganger, it seemed, only one at least a decade younger. Waking up in this unknown place, three scary strangers the only living things around, no wonder he was terrified.

"My name's... Uh, AK. And I'm not gonna hurt you." He didn't come any closer, he spoke in an assuring voice that would coax any kid.

**"Baby bird, you know how much I hate being the voice of reason, but this widdle snookums called you AK before. He knows who you are."**

**<strike>"Shut up, clown. Let's just watch... Holy fuck, that kid's so fucking cute.</strike>"**

"Where are we? Where's Bruce?" The kid whimpered, pushing deeper into the tree branch until it looked like he might fall. There was a near-instant urge sparked to protect this child and Jason wasn't sure why.

"I don't know, but if you come with me, we'll find Bruce." He didn't know why he promised that, the outcome was unlikely to be so, but it seemed like the surest way to get Robin's trust. After all, there wasn't a Robin alive who could last long absent Batman's shadow. Or so was the common belief.

Sceptically, Robins gaze darted up and down him, searching for a sign of deception but when he couldn't find what didn't exist, he relaxed somewhat. He let Jason come close enough to pick him up and by that time, Hood was getting impatient down below.

"Darling, come down, _please_. There's nothing up there."

God, he sounded irritated. Jason took it as his cue to return to ground level, jumping from the branches.

"_AK_-"

With a jolt, he thudded onto his feet, right between Hood and Priesty Boy, holding Robin to his chest, the kid being near small enough to be entirely concealed by his arms. The priest and Hood alike were staring at Jason like he was crazy, so to debunk their thoughts, he opted to display Robin to them.

"_Look_." He held the kid out at length, hands clasped tight around his ribcage but it only made his doppelgangers look confused, glancing at each other.

"Erm, that's just lovely, my darling." With a heavy hand, Hood awkwardly patted Robin on his mop of dark curls, a bit rougher than need be, and his coordination was off. As for the priest, well, he didn't say or do anything, just regarded AK with grave severity. Okay, actually what was up with these two? They were being so weird.

"Carissime, stop playing around in the trees now. We need to get out of this situation." Priesty Boy sounded like he was scolding Jason, a disapproving, stern frown on his face that he might give the lowliest sinner. Did... did he do something wrong? Why weren't they asking questions concerning the Robin child?

"... Um, sorry." Unsure what else to say, AK murmured, placing Robin back onto his feet beside him but holding onto his hand, lest there were any monsters crawling around that could eat him up in one bite. Robin's gaze flickered up to him but Jason's twins' demeanour told him enough to keep quiet. Why the fuck were they being like this?

<strike> **"They're dicks, it's that simple."** </strike>

**"Hihihi, I think this is the most fun we've had all year!"**

<strike> **"Agreed. And is it weird that I think the priest's kinda hot? He's so mysterious, I love it."** </strike>

**"So aside from priests and kiddies, what other fetishes do you have, bluebird?"**

<strike> **"Hehe, you'll just have to wait to find out."** </strike>

That was unsettling.

"C'mon," Hood gesture to Jason and Priesty Boy, overlooking Robin's presence entirely. "We gotta get outta this clearing, we're too exposed here." The priest nodded his agreement and struck off in a direction Hood followed after in, Jason coming reluctantly in their wake. He felt the tiny squeeze of Robin's hand around his, two of his steps adding up to a single of Jason's.

"I don't like your siblings very much, AK." He whispered and Jason didn't blame him. Those two were being complete jerks right now.

* * *

Hood went scouting, AK didn't drift far... probably, so there was the advantage of silence to be seized here. Hours of nothing happening, wandering in aimless circles without a direct threat presenting itself, it caused to question what was really going on here. This, these circumstances, that note, was nothing short of menacing, yet no menace had shown face...

Exhaling, Jason stripped off his black clerical shirt and dumped it into a graceless pile on the sharp-bladed grass. He kicked off his shoes and waded into the river. The water was icy cold, the first contact hit bone and goosebumps shot across his pale flesh, he stiffened but showed no other physical reaction. Walking deeper, he stomached the discomfort and the urge to get away from it, and distracted himself with thoughts about his twins.

Red Hood was as crazy as a bag of cats on the outside, but he was just doing what had kept him and the people he loved safe this long. His walls came with turret-mounted Gatling guns and he let no one close enough to risk them not being a threat.

Jason understood that, he didn't take the personal attacks personally. Truthfully, he wasn't much better himself.

Red Hood talked nonstop with very little pauses or sense, but by no means, was he stupid. His chatter was a charade that kept his constant alertness concealed. He was always on edge, always ready to act, and that level of high-strungness came from a lifetime of hard hits going both ways.

He was a protector, whatever that role demanded of him.

Without ever showing it, Jason respected him, despite all the shit he pulled.

The water lapped at his hips, moving in silken ripples around. Sighing through his nose, Jason closed his eyes and tipped his head back, relishing the wind on his face. It was a soft pleasant brush on his skin that momentarily transported his mind to a place other than this.

In many aspects, Hood and Jason were a lot alike, made sense, all things considered, but the Arkham Knight was a little different to them. He didn't doubt that skittish creature was the apex combatant among them. Yes, Jason and Hood were respectively skilled in their own rights, but the Knight was the one who was _truly_ dangerous. Deathstroke, Batman, they both passed on their deadly secrets to AK. Hell, even Joker did, and he was the one who did the most work into making the Knight.

AK was dangerous because he, unlike Hood pretended to be, was actually crazy. Clinically, that is. And there was an unspoken understanding among Jason and Hood that they had to keep their triplet from snapping. They'd all be dead if he did. Whatever he thought he saw in the tree earlier, it didn't bode well.

From what Jason vaguely knew, the Knight had very good reasons to be the way he was, and as understandable as that remained, they had to keep him from going back to _that_ headspace. Everyone was a threat there. He would become whatever he needed to be to protect himself.

And that had Jason more concerned than he let on. This all did.

But it wasn't only AK.

Survival was the most uncontrollable instinct, Brother Blood made sure he learned that, and Jason wasn't sure what the three of them would do to stay alive. For now, they were able to trust each other but for how long? Whatever this was, it was nowhere near the worst part. It wasn't done with them before it widened the breaks.

Slowly, Jason's eyelashes fluttered open when he felt eyes on him from the shore. From his peripheral, he watched the Arkham Knight watching him silently, _studying_ him intently, his attention captured by the scars Jason normally hid beneath his clerical attire. The burns were enough to pique his curiosity so the thick knife mark over Jason's heart must really be attention-grabbing.

The gape was shameless but not intrusively so, just... shameless. As if he didn't know any better. It didn't waver even as the priest began to wade through the waters towards AK. Jason didn't mind, to be honest, most people stared at the burn collared priest. He was a spectacle and he knew it.

"Where is Hood?" Coming ashore, Jason inquired, water running down him in sheets that soaked the ground. He bent to collect his shirt and the Knight moved back a few strides, replying with a shrug. The position of his hand at his side looked like he was holding something that wasn't there.

"I don't know."

Jason glanced at him and wondered how such an intimidating man always looked so uncertain. Two tentative meters away, he was standing at a distance he felt comfortable with. If Jason moved now, he bet he'd give his doppelganger a start. Such a skittish creature he was. Another thing that set him apart from the priest and the Hood.

Remaining quiet, the Arkham Knight's wide blue eyes remained lingering over the knife scar forming a rise on Jason's sternum, his internal questions forming such a ruckus that Jason could almost hear them in the physical. AK didn't look away even as the black fabric of the shirt fell over the wet skin that held his interests, he stood staring at the spot for an entire ten seconds before slowly dragging his gaze to meet Jason's.

He wanted to ask, Jason could tell, but he didn't. He would have told AK if he'd asked, he had nothing to hide from these people.

"You don't... you don't really believe in all that _stuff_, do you?" The Arkham Knight swallowed his nerves audibly when he spoke, shifting his position while he bent and twisted his fingers in his hand. In all his years in the Brother Blood cult and then doing clerical work, Jason had never met anyone this anxious.

"What stuff? Clarify." Jason told him, smoothing down his shirt.

"That... that _Jesus_ stuff. You're like... pretending, right?"

"I believe in many things, carissime. In many gods. In infinite truths." As he spoke, he tucked his shirt in, avoiding visual contact in favour of concentrating on the task. He found it made him harder to read when he was looking elsewhere.

"That's not what I asked, though."

"And yet it's how I answered." With the finishing touch of stepping back into his shoes, he completed the task of getting redressed. He could tell his response bothered AK.

"Why is everything always so cryptic with you?" AK tilted his head confusedly, frowning a bit.

"I enjoy humouring people."

"I'm not humoured."

"Unsurprising, given the circumstances." The dripping beads of the rosaries swung back and forth from Jason's wrists as he moved his hand to tidy his damp hair out of his face. It felt like every movement he made was being closely observed by the other.

"Do you have someone back in your dimension?" He asked out of nowhere and Jason gave him a slightly confused glance, unsure where that question came from.

"There are plenty of people who are back there."

"I mean like Rose or Roy. A _partner_."

Seeing what he meant, Jason shook his head. How odd that AK would choose to ask that, but it might be as simple as innocent curiosity.

"No, I'm not one for romance."

"So you're... more of a player then?"

Jason denied it with a shake of his head.

"Intercourse is not my thing."

AK's gaze darkened by several shades, his muscles tensing as he read into a situation that immediately went to the worst-case scenario for him.

"Did... Did someone do something to-"

"No, I was just born this way, I suppose... Besides, someone of my standing in the church isn't privilege to intimate relationships. Not that I'd want such a thing."

At being cut off, the Knight appeared visibly relieved that Jason could confirm his assumptions as false. They didn't all have the same traumas.

"So you're like, what, _asexual_? Aromantic?"

"It doesn't matter what I am, dear one. Not here and not now." This was a good place to put a damper on the Knight's curiosity, too many questions that lead to irrelevant answers distracted from the main goal here; not dying.

"Again with the cryptic shit." AK shook his tousled head, only making it more evident that all of his hair was reverting slowly back to its natural red.

"_Again_, I'm not cryptic. I'm vague." Which was totally different, for the record.

"Now where is Hood? We shouldn't spend much time apart." 

AK raised his shoulders slightly, momentarily, to express his lack of knowledge in that department.

"I seriously don't know. I came here 'cause I figured you'd seen 'im."

"_Jesus Christ._" As he cursed the name that he preached and praised during sermons, Jason ran his fingers through his varicoloured hair. He really hoped his red-hooded counterpart hadn't gone too far and gotten lost, they didn't know enough about this place to venture a great distance but Hood wasn't that irresponsible. He'd been gone for an hour, did he lose track of time?

"Follow me, Knight. We should locate our twin." Jason gestured for the other to follow, pretending not to hear the quiet 'come on' that AK said to whoever whose invisible hand he was holding onto. An unhealthy coping method, perhaps? Or simply the twisted conjuring of his diseased mind? An ordinary priest would pray for a resolution to all this to come quickly but Jason knew well that didn't actually work. This wasn't a place where futility would come handy. There was no one here who he needed to trick into the false comforts that Catholicism offered. 

"What's the deal with the rosaries? You got three, d'you really need 'em all?" AK asked while they weaved between trees, looking for any glimpse of a red helmet or bat. 

"You ask a lot of questions from someone who's basically just you." 

"All we've got in common is a name and face. In every other regard, you couldn't be more different." 

"Then perhaps I'll be more forthcoming with you later. But first, let's see where Hood scampered off to."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Accept this bunch of dried sage as an apology for slacking off from writing recently *offers it*


End file.
